The entire situation is incredibly weird: According to this report in the Indianapolis Star, the two players missed a meeting that they weren’t allowed to miss, which is not something one should be doing but which is not at all grounds for dismissal. According to the Bloomington Herald-Times, Dakich wanted the players to run sprints, and they told him they wouldn’t, another act of insubordination that’s not exactly polite but which isn’t grounds for getting the long boot goodbye, either.

Of course there’s more: Both players had disciplinary issues under former coach Kelvin Sampson that caused them to miss games, and those issues were never revealed. So Dakich’s sudden curb-kicking was seen by some last night as an administration cleaning house by using a surrogate lame-duck coach to do so; all the while Dakich gets coaching cred among Indiana’s conservative faithful for clearing the team of troublemakers. […]

Check out the whole piece if you have a chance, and feel free to leave a comment at The Dagger.

This thing is so incredibly weird. Either Dakich is acting alone, without the permission of the university and the athletic department, and just dismissing players he’ll never have a chance to coach again … or the administration is using him to clean house before they bring in a new coach. I still don’t get it. Does anyone else?

Crean would be a decent hire, but i'm not all that impressed with what i've seen out of his teams as of yet. Almost all of his teams have little or no post players and anyone watching IU knows that has been one of our weaknesses, lack of post depth. His teams play small ball, and that doesn't get you very far in the tourney, excluding the team he had with Wade that beat Kentucky. I would like to see the next coach, whoever that is, make that a point of emphasis, to improve post play and depth.

BayAreaHoosier

kevin love is montross v2.0

easy

Yeah but if you're being recruited by Big East schools, Marquette is not going to be your first choice. Crean is well known for developing talent extremely well. And the Big East called Marquette the most physical team in the league, which is really saying something. I think he's maxed out Marquette's potential. If he came to a big time school I think he can win big. Get very good recruits and really teach the game. He's intense and a very good guy. His personality is the type we need to get us out of this mess. I'd be semi-surprised though. He's always seemed to want to stay at Marquette, and he's making 1.7 mil as it is. But I could see him as the type who would want the challenge like this. Exactly what we need.

Someone was telling me earlier that IU's next coach would be the “transporter”. I was like who, and they said that guy Scott Skiles, he looks a little like Jason Statham, lol. I really wouldn't know what to think if he became the next coach.

I think if IU offered, Crean would take it. He's always rumored to be looking to get out and go somewhere else, like when he was interested in the UK job. He was interested in the IU job a couple years ago when Greenspan & Herbert hired Sampson. Now there's a question, the coaches who were interested the last time around in this job but were “burned” or passed over, i wonder if they would have second thoughts because of that?!

Ryan_Btown

Kelin, you are killin me with this stuff…that's hilarious

peaychris

I hear from someone who knows a Tennessee player that Pearl is considering the IU job. i dont know how reliable this is, but hey its the glimmer of hope that gets me through today….

Ryan_Btown

love it

easy

He wasn't burned or passed over. He wasn't interested. He's always RUMORED to be a candidate, but has always maintained he wanted to stay at Marquette. He's very highly thought of there and he makes 1.7 mil which is great. He had no reason to want to leave and hates continually being rumored to be leaving.

easy

Hope not.

peaychris

but i dont really want a coach who looks a lot like my favorite TV character. i just cant take him serioulsy….. lol

I was talking to a professor of mine who used to be Knight's PR person when he was here, so she knows lots of athletics people and all the former staff/players and such. She told me that this committee is being so tight lipped and keeping things under the radar that even people with connections are tracking planes from airports. As far as she knows, any information given to us from Katz or blogs, etc… is purely speculation because this committee is being very secretive.

On another note…Eddie Sutton's son is resigning from OK St. Anyone think Bill Self may jump ship after getting his ass kicked by UNC and head to his Alma Mater? That may take the media heat off of us for a while!

Is Steve Alford really that bad. I wasn't for Steve Alford at first, but now I think he maybe be the guy. Look at what we have here….Lon Kruger….Mike Mont……….come on…..home run I think not. Thats like a foul ball…or actually a strike out. No Dakich. This guy is out of control. I understand Bassett and Ellis were in the wrong to an extent, but Dakich has no right to throw players off the team. This is an outrage. We need Matta or Pitino. Like I said with Pitino….he is there for 10 years pick us up and when he retires the position would be more attractive. Matta would be the same, but for more like 20 years wich would be better. My other choice is Anthony Grant. I like was I read about him, but if these guys won't come. Why not alford? Coaching in the big ten when Knight was still in the big ten was a mistake. Going to Iowa was a mistake. If he was here in Indiana he might of been our matt painter. Do you think matt painter would be in as good of shape if he was coaching Penn State? Please don't hate me for saying this…but lets get alford.

That's what i have heard as well. No one really knows anything, except for the committee, and they're not saying anything. So the next head coach could be someone we haven't even mentioned as of yet, who knows?! The “beat writers”, blogs, sports sites, and everything in between that says they have “inside sources” and they know something is just a lie to fire up the fans and bring attention to their columns or whatever.

I doubt Self would leave Kansas for OSU. Of course, the power of the dollar bill can influence a person into doing something such as that, i heard OSU would offer ridiculous amounts of money to have him (like 3-4 million a year).

southsidehitmen

There are still better options out there than Alford.

Honestly whatever happens from here on out, the new coach should be playing with house money, at least for year one.

Anything IU basketball does that is positive with all that's happened will be gravy, and if they have a horrible year, well, he'll get a mulligan to rebuild his team within the next few years.

The pressure is officially completely off whoever is the head coach next year.

From what I've read and herd the everything is speculation. I mean Barnes, Pitino, and Matta may be considering the job as we speak. Look at all the speculation about the last hire…and we end up with Sampson. Nobody saw that comming. I think we should all just stay positive and hope for the best. Tony Bennett declined the job because he wants to coach wisconson someday. He said we wasn't interested in he Cal job because it was an interconference change and I think that is what we are seeing here with the IU decline.

Expect Crawford and Thomas to be dismissed as well within the next few days.

Expect the new coach to get them all back on the team.

xxBHxx

sorry easy no link.. was said on his radio show. 1070 da fan, all they are talking about so far is the IU job.

Ryan_Btown

I guess we can cross his name off the potential candidate list…kidding (that was disrespectful on my part)

peaychris

I dont see why Dak is so unpopular. we need to respect what he has done, and his lifetime loyalty to IU! He came into a most difficult position of unrest where IMO the players quit on him(exception DJ). we should be hating Samson not Dak. look i dont think Dak is head coach material, but i do think hes deserved everything IU has given him and our respect (and the players). i think he would do anything for IU basketball and we should get off his back about getting rid of these two players. hey i hope coach knight comes back to a team like LSU and hires Dak. i just think Dak wants whats best for IU, and whats best for IU is to get rid of trouble makers. look slavery ended with the civil war they didnt have to be at IU they could have quit, but i think they wanted to be martyrs.

your know its funny…….if that 3 by wisconson hadn't dropped and sampson would of stayed….maybe won a part of the big ten…..maybe a run to the final four…everyone's tone would be different

Ryan_Btown

I respect him, but I have a lifetime of loyalty to IU as well but that doesn't make me a candidate.

peaychris

I would rather lose, then to have a buch of thugs run all over the coaches!(interm or not hes still the man right now) I you let the inmates run the asylum you'll get Florida State Football…

xxBHxx

not really man.. they have been preaching for izzo/pitino/calapari like crazy. dakich is on right now.

peaychris

No i am not advocating his hire as coach. i am just suggesting that the players treat him with the respect they would treat any other coach. i think hes a great asst coach or “director of basketball operations” but not a head coach

Ryan_Btown

You know, I would tend to agree with you. But my question is, it seems that ALL of these players hate him. I'm not saying they have a reason to and I'll be the first to agree that they haven't been playing for Indiana this whole season, but Dak's record as a player's coach isn't exceptional. He'll tell you that himself. I just don't know if keeping him around the program will be on the top priority list for the new coach. Would you rather have talent that Dak ran off the team (rightly or wrongly) or the guy who thinks he should have your job?

xxBHxx

shit.. missed most of the dakich interveiw due to work. friggin work.. don't these people know that this is more important!?!? hopefully ill be able to pick it up on podcast later tonight. 1070thefan.com

peaychris

Look i think these are not the type of players Dak would have recruited. i think he likes the people who are coachable. these current guys are a different breed. if you went to play for knight you knew what you were going to get. i just think that IU fans espically would want players that are respectful, instead of these pre-madonnas we have on the team now.

Ryan_Btown

I just realized who that guy is. Bob Menke started Styline in southern Indiana. My father used to run their furniture division for his son Hank Menke who now runs the show. I never realized that he one a title at IU. Interesting.

Ryan_Btown

Yeah, I'm not arguing with you. I'm just saying that the new coach, if he wants a shot at winning, may agree with Dakich about the kids being a handful, but he would probably rather have them back for 2 more years and then recruit his own guys. I would rather win too. After what we've been through the last 10 years, what's another 3 or 4 of losing if we just disassemble the current program and rebuild. But most coaches probably would rather win now. It's a lot different than the old days.

Ryan_Btown

I meant i'd rather rebuild, not I'd rather win…although I do love to win, but I'm afraid i'd miss all the losing.

tberry

so what do we do in the meantime? Just let the players do what they want until we have a new coach who will beg them to be good little boys?

Never! the biggest mistake we have recently made was hiring Davis because some of the players were whiny and didn't want this or that. Who gives a shit. If they want to play, listen to the coach whomever it is.

peaychris

i am feelin ya! i just think that a coach can recruit his own players and be good in 2 years now.